Targets, including Yap1, for antifungal drug discovery and therapy

Abstract

The present invention is based on the discovery of a two organism model system that can be used to identify virulence factors. The system is also useful in the process of drug delivery. More specifically, we have established valid fungal infection in caenorhabditis elegans with an invading pathogen, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Because both species are genetic model organisms, the assay can be used to identify host and virulence factors involved in such interactions.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of identifying an antifungal compound, the method comprising:
 (a) providing a co-culture comprising a  C. elegans, E. coli , and a fungal pathogen comprising a mutant gene; 
 (b) determining whether the fungal pathogen infects the  C. elegans , wherein a lack of infection identifies the protein encoded by the wild type correlate of the mutant gene as a virulence factor; 
 (c) exposing a wild type fungal pathogen that expresses the virulence factor to a test compound; and 
 (d) determining whether the test compound inhibits expression of the virulence factor, wherein a decrease in the expression of the virulence factor indicates that the test compound is an antifungal compound. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fungal pathogen is  S. cerevisiae.    
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fungal pathogen comprises a mutation in a gene that is expressed in the fungal pathogen but not in a mammal.